Weighing of the Heart Ceremony Papyrus

The Weighing of the Heart Ceremony Papyrus is a very fine detailed piece full of colors and full of life. This brightly detailed scene is of the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony. This ceremony took place after you died and was your test in order to enter the afterlife. A giant scale would weigh your heart against the feather of truth (Ma’at) and if your heart was lighter than you would pass on to the afterlife but if not then it would be eaten by the Amemet monster (far right).

To the Egyptians the heart was considered to be the seat of all knowledge instead of the brain. So here all your good and bad deeds were measured. The Amemet monster is part hippo, lion and crocodile. Next to Amemet is the Thoth, the god of knowledge, who would record all the happenings. Anubis, the jackal headed god, was the god of the dead who watched over the ceremony. On the far left are images of the deceased bowing down to the gods that are judging their fate. The size of this papyrus painting is approximately 14″ by 17 1/2″.

Papyrus was a weed that grew wildly along the banks of the Nile River. It grew about 10 feet high. It was used to make everything. The ancient Egyptians used papyrus to make paper, baskets, sandals, mats, rope, blankets, tables, chairs, mattresses, medicine, perfume, food, and clothes. Truly, papyrus was an important “gift of the Nile”.

They even tried to make boats out of papyrus, but that did not work very well since Papyrus absorbs water. Using papyrus to make boats might not have worked, but making paper out of papyrus worked  really very well. The ancient Egyptians soaked papyrus to soften it, and then mashed it. They pushed the mashed papyrus together into sheets, and let the sheets dry. Hence they cut the dried papyrus sheets into strips. Then they piled several strips on top of each other to make a thick paper. They beat the stack with a hammer to mash the strips together. Then, they placed a weight on top of each stack. That made the paper thin and sturdy. The final step was to dry to stack.

The ancient Egyptians also used papyrus to make books. But they were not books like ours.  Ancient Egyptian books were made from long strips of papyrus paper. The end of a strip was pasted to another strip, to form a long and thin continuous writing surface. Either one end, or both ends were fastened to a stick of wood, or if you were very rich, a thin stick of ivory. Most papyrus books were only a few feet long. But some were very long, over 150 feet long!

To make sure what they wrote down was protected, the ancient Egyptians only wrote on one side of a sheet (thin strip) of paper. When the paper was full of writing, they rolled the paper into a cylinder with the writing inside, and left a hole down the middle. That way, if the paper picked up any moisture, it could dry more easily.

Like all our other exquisite pieces, this papayrus is handcrafted, and highly detailed by our talented craftsmen. It is also top quality and can last for a lifetime.

Additional info:

• Shipment of our Weighing of the Heart Ceremony Papyrus takes from 4-6 business days

• Shipping takes place from Egypt